Cambodia's patchy access to the Internet is on display above a street in a residential area of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
The following article appeared online on June 17th, 2008 at:
http://afp.google.com/copyright?hl=en
Unfortunately the author is unknown, but (AFP) owns the copyright to this story between the words "START" and "END". Although the story first appeared nearly a year ago, it offers a look into the atmosphere in which blogs from Cambodia are written, what subjects are discussed or avoided, and why.
START
Jun 17, 2008
PHNOM PENH (AFP) — When Hor Virak started blogging three years ago, he was one of only a handful of bloggers in Cambodia and quickly gained a following for his frequent postings on technology.
At first, he said, "I just rode my motorbike around and took interesting pictures to post on my blog". But by the beginning of last year, he was attracting several hundred readers a day and now says he is thrilled with his new-found celebrity.
"When I started it, I had no idea it would take me to this level of fame," he said, sitting at his laptop in a Phnom Penh cafe. If Hor Virak's idea of fame seems modest, it's because government data show only about ten percent of Cambodia's 14.4 million people have Internet access.
He is among a lively group of Cambodian bloggers -- or "cloggers" as they call themselves -- who are opening up this tiny, conservative country to the wider world and potentially bringing in unprecedented social change. Cambodian bloggers are keeping online diaries which they use to reflect on personal relationships, school and social issues, expressing opinions that are traditionally kept private.
"This kind of public expression is a new thing that never happened in our society," said Be Chantra, who trains bloggers through a non profit organization called the Open Institute.
Blogging in Cambodia did not have an auspicious start. In 2003, Be Chantra and two other colleagues traveled the country training 2,000 students to blog in an initiative funded by Microsoft and United States aid agencies. "It was not successful," Be Chantra said, shaking his head.
Fewer than five percent of his students were able to keep a blog afterwards as they could not access the Internet, he said. Since then, however, more than 1,000 Cambodians have turned to blogging and most of them are students who began by their own initiative, said Be Chantra.
Cambodian bloggers now meet regularly and hold workshops to teach each other about new software applications. Most see this as great progress as the Internet only arrived here a little more than a decade ago. "If the Internet was cheaper, faster and easier to access there would be even more bloggers," said Be Chantra.
Despite patchy access to the Internet, 20-year-old university student Keo Kalyan has begun earning an income from her blog musings, written under her online identity as "DeeDee, School Girl Genius". More than 200 visitors per day check out her postings, which are usually written in pink, and the Indian cosmetics company Shaadi has begun buying advertising space on her site.
"The money isn't much, but I'm happy my voice is being heard," Keo Kalyan said.
The majority of Cambodian bloggers write in English so they can reach a global audience, but very few touch on one of blogging's most popular topics: politics.
Be Chantra's Khmer-language comedy blog is read by the Cambodian diaspora in the US and Japan but those hoping for something beyond humor are confronted with a banner on his site that reads: "No Politics Here". "Politics could easily hurt you and it is nonsense," he said.
Last year Radio Free Asia reporter Lem Pichpisey fled to Thailand after receiving anonymous death threats for his reports alleging Cambodia's political elite were involved in illegal logging.
Attacks against journalists in Cambodia have fallen in recent years as the government has turned to the courts to punish reporters or publications it feels have violated the press law, critics say.
Although defamation, the charge most frequently leveled against journalists, was decriminalized in 2006, stiff fines now discourage aggressive reporting.
"The good thing about a blog is that it can be anonymous and you still can be contacted," said Gary Kawaguchi, a digital media trainer at the Department of Media and Communications of Cambodia. "But the press here is very controlled and people still find out who you are so bloggers still have to be careful," he added.
Chak Sopheap, a university student who started a blog in her own name last year to draw attention to Cambodia's impoverished rural communities, said she was threatened criticizing the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP). "The message said, "If I were you, I would run. Otherwise you will be killed," Chak Sopheap said.
While her fellow bloggers have vowed to keep their political criticism anonymous, Chak Sopheap said she will continue to post her views, claiming her blog affords more freedom of expression than Cambodia's mainstream media.
"Through blogs people change their attitudes and open their closed-lip habits. They can talk about how society can be developed," she said.
END
According to an article written by Philippines Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno entitled, "Freedom of Press: A Touchstone of Democracy", "Legal historians trace the roots of freedom of expression to Athens, Greece as far back as 800-600 B.C. Even then, expressive freedom was given only to select "citizens" which did not include women, resident aliens and juveniles. The Athenian majority was not accorded the expressive freedom by their aristocratic rulers. The Roman empire's ruling class also sternly controlled freedom of expression and the distribution of news to the citizenry."
The same was true in England. Please read my previous post entitled, Could Southeast Asia Learn About Press Freedom From John Peter Zenger?
Under early English common law, the truthfulness of a statement was not a defense, therefore a criticism of the Crown, even though truthful, could result in a severe penalty. This is similar to the model adopted by Cambodia's current government.
Please read my previous post entitled, Cambodian Opposition Leader Mu Sochua Will Not Withdraw Her Defamation Suit Against Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen
English common law recognized four types of libel: (1) blasphemous libel, which is any speech that denied the existence of God or ridiculed any Christian doctrine; (2) seditious libel or criticism of the government, its leaders or policies; (3) obscene libel, which is the forerunner of obscenity laws, and (4) private libel, which is speech that injured the reputation of another person.
So that's it folks. You have clicked on the links and realize that a statement beginning with the phrase, "according to so and so" can land a journalist, lawyer or anyone else in big a heap of trouble in the Kingdom of Cambodia no matter if what THE OTHER PERSON SAID was truthful or not.
I admire 20-year-old university student Keo Kalyan because she blogs in pink.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved
The following article appeared online on June 17th, 2008 at:
http://afp.google.com/copyright?hl=en
Unfortunately the author is unknown, but (AFP) owns the copyright to this story between the words "START" and "END". Although the story first appeared nearly a year ago, it offers a look into the atmosphere in which blogs from Cambodia are written, what subjects are discussed or avoided, and why.
START
Jun 17, 2008
PHNOM PENH (AFP) — When Hor Virak started blogging three years ago, he was one of only a handful of bloggers in Cambodia and quickly gained a following for his frequent postings on technology.
At first, he said, "I just rode my motorbike around and took interesting pictures to post on my blog". But by the beginning of last year, he was attracting several hundred readers a day and now says he is thrilled with his new-found celebrity.
"When I started it, I had no idea it would take me to this level of fame," he said, sitting at his laptop in a Phnom Penh cafe. If Hor Virak's idea of fame seems modest, it's because government data show only about ten percent of Cambodia's 14.4 million people have Internet access.
He is among a lively group of Cambodian bloggers -- or "cloggers" as they call themselves -- who are opening up this tiny, conservative country to the wider world and potentially bringing in unprecedented social change. Cambodian bloggers are keeping online diaries which they use to reflect on personal relationships, school and social issues, expressing opinions that are traditionally kept private.
"This kind of public expression is a new thing that never happened in our society," said Be Chantra, who trains bloggers through a non profit organization called the Open Institute.
Blogging in Cambodia did not have an auspicious start. In 2003, Be Chantra and two other colleagues traveled the country training 2,000 students to blog in an initiative funded by Microsoft and United States aid agencies. "It was not successful," Be Chantra said, shaking his head.
Fewer than five percent of his students were able to keep a blog afterwards as they could not access the Internet, he said. Since then, however, more than 1,000 Cambodians have turned to blogging and most of them are students who began by their own initiative, said Be Chantra.
Cambodian bloggers now meet regularly and hold workshops to teach each other about new software applications. Most see this as great progress as the Internet only arrived here a little more than a decade ago. "If the Internet was cheaper, faster and easier to access there would be even more bloggers," said Be Chantra.
Despite patchy access to the Internet, 20-year-old university student Keo Kalyan has begun earning an income from her blog musings, written under her online identity as "DeeDee, School Girl Genius". More than 200 visitors per day check out her postings, which are usually written in pink, and the Indian cosmetics company Shaadi has begun buying advertising space on her site.
"The money isn't much, but I'm happy my voice is being heard," Keo Kalyan said.
The majority of Cambodian bloggers write in English so they can reach a global audience, but very few touch on one of blogging's most popular topics: politics.
Be Chantra's Khmer-language comedy blog is read by the Cambodian diaspora in the US and Japan but those hoping for something beyond humor are confronted with a banner on his site that reads: "No Politics Here". "Politics could easily hurt you and it is nonsense," he said.
Last year Radio Free Asia reporter Lem Pichpisey fled to Thailand after receiving anonymous death threats for his reports alleging Cambodia's political elite were involved in illegal logging.
Attacks against journalists in Cambodia have fallen in recent years as the government has turned to the courts to punish reporters or publications it feels have violated the press law, critics say.
Although defamation, the charge most frequently leveled against journalists, was decriminalized in 2006, stiff fines now discourage aggressive reporting.
"The good thing about a blog is that it can be anonymous and you still can be contacted," said Gary Kawaguchi, a digital media trainer at the Department of Media and Communications of Cambodia. "But the press here is very controlled and people still find out who you are so bloggers still have to be careful," he added.
Chak Sopheap, a university student who started a blog in her own name last year to draw attention to Cambodia's impoverished rural communities, said she was threatened criticizing the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP). "The message said, "If I were you, I would run. Otherwise you will be killed," Chak Sopheap said.
While her fellow bloggers have vowed to keep their political criticism anonymous, Chak Sopheap said she will continue to post her views, claiming her blog affords more freedom of expression than Cambodia's mainstream media.
"Through blogs people change their attitudes and open their closed-lip habits. They can talk about how society can be developed," she said.
END
According to an article written by Philippines Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno entitled, "Freedom of Press: A Touchstone of Democracy", "Legal historians trace the roots of freedom of expression to Athens, Greece as far back as 800-600 B.C. Even then, expressive freedom was given only to select "citizens" which did not include women, resident aliens and juveniles. The Athenian majority was not accorded the expressive freedom by their aristocratic rulers. The Roman empire's ruling class also sternly controlled freedom of expression and the distribution of news to the citizenry."
The same was true in England. Please read my previous post entitled, Could Southeast Asia Learn About Press Freedom From John Peter Zenger?
Under early English common law, the truthfulness of a statement was not a defense, therefore a criticism of the Crown, even though truthful, could result in a severe penalty. This is similar to the model adopted by Cambodia's current government.
Please read my previous post entitled, Cambodian Opposition Leader Mu Sochua Will Not Withdraw Her Defamation Suit Against Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen
English common law recognized four types of libel: (1) blasphemous libel, which is any speech that denied the existence of God or ridiculed any Christian doctrine; (2) seditious libel or criticism of the government, its leaders or policies; (3) obscene libel, which is the forerunner of obscenity laws, and (4) private libel, which is speech that injured the reputation of another person.
So that's it folks. You have clicked on the links and realize that a statement beginning with the phrase, "according to so and so" can land a journalist, lawyer or anyone else in big a heap of trouble in the Kingdom of Cambodia no matter if what THE OTHER PERSON SAID was truthful or not.
I admire 20-year-old university student Keo Kalyan because she blogs in pink.
John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage
No comments:
Post a Comment